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Category: Politics

Kari Lake’s loss in Arizona destroys ‘Stop the Steal’

Kari Lake’s loss in Arizona destroys ‘Stop the Steal’

In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal says: If anyone needs more evidence that “Stop the Steal” was a loser for the GOP this year, the party’s Arizona wipeout is definitive. On Monday Kari Lake joined the list of Republicans in the Grand Canyon State who ran on the stolen 2020 election and lost. Ms. Lake, a former TV news anchor, had all the sparkling charisma that Donald Trump’s other favorite candidates lacked. She loved telling off journalists. She called…

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Ukraine tells allies it may not be able to recover from more Russian attacks on energy systems

Ukraine tells allies it may not be able to recover from more Russian attacks on energy systems

Politico reports: The Ukrainian government is warning Western allies that it is anticipating increased Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure in the coming days and that Kyiv does not have enough replacement parts to bring heat and power back online if those occur, according to two congressional officials and one Western official briefed on U.S. intelligence. Ukrainian officials have in recent days asked their American counterparts and more than half a dozen European countries for assistance preparing for a prolonged…

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What really caused the missile explosion in Poland

What really caused the missile explosion in Poland

Anne Applebaum writes: The precise chain of events doesn’t matter. Whether the missile that landed in the Polish border village of Przewodów yesterday was, as President Joe Biden, Polish President Andrzej Duda, and other NATO officials have suggested, the result of a Ukrainian antimissile defense barrage, or whether it was, as some initially suspected, a Russian targeting mistake makes no difference. The real cause of this explosion and the deaths of two people is the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an…

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NATO says missile that hit Poland was likely Ukraine air defense

NATO says missile that hit Poland was likely Ukraine air defense

The Wall Street Journal reports: Top NATO officials said a missile that crashed in Poland and killed two people was likely a Russian-made weapon fired by a Ukrainian air-defense system, and that there was no evidence it was directed there intentionally. “Ukraine defended itself, which is obvious and understandable, by firing missiles whose task was to knock down Russian missiles,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday. “The Russian side is to blame for this tragic event.” Russia unleashed one of…

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Poland explosion unlikely to spark escalation – but risks of NATO-Russia clash are real

Poland explosion unlikely to spark escalation – but risks of NATO-Russia clash are real

Julian Borger writes: If it was a Russian missile that struck a Polish village on Tuesday, killing two people, it would be the first time a Russian weapon has ever come down on Nato territory. The Soviet Union and the US managed to get through the whole cold war without making such a mistake, because Washington and Moscow were well aware of the risks of going to war by accident or miscalculation. Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a far less predictable…

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Europe should shape the clean fuel market now

Europe should shape the clean fuel market now

By Benjamin Görlach and Michael Jakob, Knowable magazine, November 11, 2022 The war on Ukraine — a major exporter of natural gas — has wreaked havoc on energy markets in Europe. Faced with imminent energy shortages, governments have ramped up coal use and expanded import of liquified natural gas from other nations. The International Energy Agency estimates that coal use in Europe could increase by 7 percent in 2022, after a 14 percent jump in 2021. This is a problem….

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Should rich countries and fossil fuel companies pay for the climate losses and damages they have caused?

Should rich countries and fossil fuel companies pay for the climate losses and damages they have caused?

Isabelle Gerretsen writes: In August, Pakistan was devastated by catastrophic flooding. The unprecedented monsoon rains killed more than 1,500 people and left the inundated country with economic damages exceeding $30bn (£27bn). Within a month, a scientific study had concluded the high rainfall was “likely increased” by climate change. The link between greenhouse gas emissions and extreme weather events already happening today is now well established. Events such as Pakistan’s floods, Madagascar cyclones  and Somalia’s drought are becoming more intense and more frequent due to climate change. They have led to death and destruction…

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Murdoch urges Trump not to run in 2024, threatening to back a Democrat if he does

Murdoch urges Trump not to run in 2024, threatening to back a Democrat if he does

i News reports: Rupert Murdoch has told Donald Trump that he will not back any attempt by the former president to return to the White House and could even back a Democrat against him, sources close to the media mogul have told i. It is understood that News Corp and Fox News chairman Mr Murdoch has, in the past few days, made it clear to Mr Trump that the poor showing from the Republican candidates he backed during the US…

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Are we really prisoners of geography?

Are we really prisoners of geography?

Daniel Immerwahr writes: Russia’s war in Ukraine has involved many surprises. The largest, however, is that it happened at all. Last year, Russia was at peace and enmeshed in a complex global economy. Would it really sever trade ties – and threaten nuclear war – just to expand its already vast territory? Despite the many warnings, including from Vladimir Putin himself, the invasion still came as a shock. But it wasn’t a shock to the journalist Tim Marshall. On the…

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Investigators see ego, not money, as Trump’s motive for taking and retaining classified papers

Investigators see ego, not money, as Trump’s motive for taking and retaining classified papers

The Washington Post reports: Federal agents and prosecutors have come to believe former president Donald Trump’s motive for allegedly taking and keeping classified documents was largely his ego and a desire to hold on to the materials as trophies or mementos, according to people familiar with the matter. As part of the investigation, federal authorities reviewed the classified documents that were recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club, looking to see if the types of information contained in them…

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Trump wanted IRS investigations of foes, top aide says

Trump wanted IRS investigations of foes, top aide says

The New York Times reports: While in office, President Donald J. Trump repeatedly told John F. Kelly, his second White House chief of staff, that he wanted a number of his perceived political enemies to be investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Kelly said. Mr. Kelly, who was chief of staff from July 2017 through the end of 2018, said in response to questions from The New York Times that Mr. Trump’s demands were part of a broader pattern…

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Iran unleashes its wrath on its youth for joining protests

Iran unleashes its wrath on its youth for joining protests

The New York Times reports: One girl, a 14-year-old, was incarcerated in an adult prison alongside drug offenders. A 16-year-old boy had his nose broken in detention after a beating by security officers. A 13-year-old girl was physically attacked by plainclothes militia who raided her school. A brutal crackdown by the authorities in Iran trying to halt protests calling for social freedom and political change that have convulsed the country for the past two months has exacted a terrible toll…

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In Iran, pluralism begins to take root

In Iran, pluralism begins to take root

Paymon Azmoudeh writes: There are few places in Iran further from Saqqez, in Iranian Kurdistan, where Zhina (aka Mahsa) Amini was born in 1999 and buried on Sept. 17, than Zahedan, 1,200 miles away in Sistan and Balochistan province. Yet, despite living at opposite ends of the country, Iran’s Kurdish and Baloch communities face similar challenges as non-Persian Sunni Muslims in the Shiite-centric Islamic Republic. Even so, they have never before made common cause in combating their shared marginalization. This…

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U.S. officials engage in risk management with Russian counterparts

U.S. officials engage in risk management with Russian counterparts

CNN reports: CIA Director Bill Burns met with his Russian intelligence counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin, in Ankara Monday as part of an ongoing effort by the US to “communicate with Russia on managing risk” and to discuss the cases of “unjustly detained US citizens,” a National Security Council spokesperson tells CNN. “We have been very open about the fact that we have channels to communicate with Russia on managing risk, especially nuclear risk and risks to strategic stability,” the spokesperson said….

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What Democrats can learn from Fetterman and Gluesenkamp Perez

What Democrats can learn from Fetterman and Gluesenkamp Perez

The New York Times reports: Did John Fetterman just show Democrats how to solve their white-working-class problem? Mr. Fetterman’s decisive victory in Pennsylvania’s Senate race — arguably Democrats’ biggest win of the midterms, flipping a Republican-held seat — was achieved in no small part because he did significantly better in counties dominated by white working-class voters compared with Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020. These voters for years have been thought to be all but lost to Democrats, ever since…

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A Senate in Democratic hands clears the path for Biden to keep remaking the courts

A Senate in Democratic hands clears the path for Biden to keep remaking the courts

NBC News reports: The Democratic Party’s stunning hold on Senate control will enable President Joe Biden and his allies in the chamber to do something that has been a low-key success: churning out federal judges without the threat of Republican obstruction. The Senate majority, inked by a Democratic win in Nevada, gives Biden a clear runway to continue one of his most consequential pursuits: reshaping federal courts with a diverse array of lifetime-appointed liberal judges, including record numbers of women,…

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